Managed Print Services (MPS) is an effective way for health care providers to reduce costs, increase security, and improve support processes around printed content. However, with the widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records, it is becoming increasingly important to capture patient health information in a digital format. Traditional MPS is now evolving beyond print, to what Gartner calls MCS, or Managed Content Services. As MCS evolves from MPS, healthcare providers can apply a similar best practice approach to get the most out of their imaging technology investment.

From Managed Print to Managed Content Services: A Best Practice Approach for Healthcare

Newsletter teaser:

Managed Print Services (MPS) is an effective way for health care providers to reduce costs, increase security, and improve support processes around printed content. However, with the widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records, it is becoming increasingly important to capture patient health information in a digital format. Traditional MPS is now evolving beyond print, to what Gartner calls MCS, or Managed Content Services. As MCS evolves from MPS, healthcare providers can apply a similar best practice approach to get the most out of their imaging technology investment.

Pharma giant Roche is set to acquire oncology EHR software firm Flatiron Health in the first half of 2018, the companies announced today in a statement. Roche will pay an additional $1.9 billion over the millions it had already invested into the company in 2016, and as a result of the deal will control all shares of Flatiron Health.

“This is an important step in our personalized healthcare strategy for Roche, as we believe that regulatory-grade real-world evidence is a key ingredient to accelerate the development of, and access to, new cancer treatments,” Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Daniel O’Day said in the statement. “As a leading technology company in oncology, Flatiron Health is best positioned to provide the technology and data analytics infrastructure needed not only for Roche, but for oncology research and development efforts across the entire industry. A key principle of this is to preserve Flatiron’s autonomy and their ability to continue providing their services to all existing and future partners.”

New York-based Flatiron Health was founded in 2012 by former Google employees Nat Turner, CEO, and Zach Weinberg, president and COO, both of whom told the New York Times in 2016 that they planned to take the company public in two or three years. At that time the company — which had also enjoyed major investments from Alphabet’s GV — was valued at $1.2 billion.

Flatiron Health offers an oncology-specific EHR platform employed by both community oncology practices and academic medical centers within the US. In addition, the company has also developed a suite of software products that employ real-world data from these records to uncover cancer research and care insights.

“Roche has been a tremendous partner to us over the past two years and shares our vision for building a learning healthcare platform in oncology ultimately designed to improve the lives of cancer patients,” Flatiron Health cofounder and CEO Nat Turner said in a statement. “This important milestone will allow us to increase our investments in our provider-facing technology and services platform, as well as our evidence-generation platform, which will remain available to the entire healthcare industry.”

The companies noted in the announcement — and confirmed to CNBC — that Flatiron Health will continue its current business model and other operations as a separate legal entity.

Whether you are consolidating multiple systems into one enterprise electronic health record, integrating various vendors products or optimizing an existing EHR, there are many HIMSS18 sessions to pick from.

There are, in fact, far too many sessions about EHRs to include them all here, so this is a roundup of highlights focused on making the most of your EHR at this year’s health IT conference.

Optimizing Care Transitions Across the Continuum
Experts from a large teaching hospital will share their two-fold strategy to ensure transitions are effective and safe. The work included establishing a centralized call center for post-discharge follow up and streamlining EHR workflows to increase staff productivity. The end result: Better care for patients after they’ve been discharged. Speakers: Victoria Chestnut, Manager, Integrated Population Health, Lehigh Valley Health Network; James Shull, IS Project Manager, Lehigh Valley Health NetworkWhen: 10-11 a.m. March 6Where: Sands Showroom

Developing a Strategy to Manage Legacy Data
Speakers in this session will address data archiving, migration and retention project St. Luke’s undertook to standardize onto a single EHR and how it developed the strategy, including a look at determining what information to retain and evaluating archiving solutions. Speakers: Cindy Andreason, Director, Health Information Management, St. Luke's Health System; Keith Olenik, Principal, The Olenik Consulting Group, LLCWhen: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. March 6Where: Venetian Galileo 901

Optimizing EHR Governance to Improve the User Experience
Dignity Health began standardizing its EHR governance to optimize the user experience in 2014 and has since achieved increased throughput, decreased turnaround times as well as improved provider engagement and satisfaction. The speaker will discuss processes developed and lessons learned along the way. Speaker: Paula Scariati, Medical Director, Health Informatics, Dignity HealthWhen: 2:30-3:30 p.m. March 6Where: Venetian Galileo 901

Using Simulation Training to Speed EHR Adoption
This look at how MD Anderson used simulation training to augment classroom work for more than 2,000 providers as it geared up to go-live with a new EHR – a project that was seen as extremely valuable when they surveyed participants after the program. This session will include advice about preparing and scaling simulation training. Speakers: John Frenzel, Chief Medical Information Officer, MD Anderson Cancer Center; Craig Owen, Executive Director, MD Anderson Cancer CenterWhere: 4-5 p.m. March 6When: Venetian Murano 3304

Clinical Process Improvement for Scalable Quality Governance
When Tampa General Hospital embarked on clinical process improvement (CPI) to enhance standardization and efficacy of treatment for high-priority conditions, it designed the program to be scalable and repeatable. This session will outline that strategy, discuss its success with sepsis, and explain the organizational changes that came about. Speaker: Peter Chang, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Tampa General HospitalWhen: 4-5 p.m. March 7Where: Las Vegas - Venetian Convention Center, Murano 3301

From Implementation to Optimization: Moving Beyond Operations
The speaker will address the need to evolve hospitals’ when it comes to maintaining long-term operational support for EHRs, including evaluating governance, processes and structures and will share insights about optimizing the work intake, enhancing clinical partnerships, prioritization, and developing key performance indicators and service level agreements. Speakers: Scott Aikey, Senior Director, Core Clinical Application Support, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaWhen: 2:30-3:30 p.m, March 8Where: Venetian Marcello 4405

Achieving HIMSS Stage 7: Realizing the Benefits of Your EHR
Hilo Medical Center CIO and EHR Director will share their journey to HIMSS Stage 7 and what goes in recertification. The discussion will include a look at key metrics for qualifying, the importance of using its EHR to full potential and it will also involve insights to help others discover whether they are doing more than they might think to improve patient care. Speakers: Kris Wilson, Chief Information Officer, Hilo Medical Center; Christine Takahashi, EHR Director, Hilo Medical CenterWhen: 4-5 p.m. March 8Where: Venetian Palazzo K

Recondo Technology plans to announce at HIMSS18 a new revenue cycle management tool that uses artificial intelligence to leverage Epic’s electronic health record to reduce the risk of denials and increase collections at the point of service.

Recondo said that based on sample data from live customers, the platform helps hospitals to increase revenue prior to service, reduced money lost to denied claims and drove productivity savings.

While the version the company is showing at HIMSS18 runs on Epic, Recondo CEO Jay Deady said it will expand that to other platforms in the future.

"Customers can expect three major themes in future releases: continued expansion to other prominent EMR systems, the launch of machine learning to drive actionable intelligence for front-line revenue cycle staff, and integration with new market disruptors as needed to deliver more value to our clients," Deady said.

Recondo is in Booth LR11.

HIMSS18 Preview

An inside look at the innovation, education, technology, networking and key events at the HIMSS18 global conference in Las Vegas.

At HIMSS18, athenahealth will be demonstrating new offerings designed to address a range of pain points physicians face today.

The company will introduce a new provider-facing mobile app, for instance, that it bills as untethering providers from their desktops and enhances connectivity across the healthcare ecosystem. “This goes so much further than the average ‘virtual assistant’ in healthcare," athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush said.

Bush added that the goal is to take away the grunt work doctors often have to do – such as dealing with claims, faxes, document services, denials, authorization management – and more.

As Bush sees it, that’s work that no physician really wants to do or has been schooled to do. Moreover, it’s work that most contributes to the industry’s growing burnout epidemic.

The past year turned out to be an interesting one for athenahealth, which was forced to tighten its belt, layoff staffers and shutter some locations while an activist investor acquired nearly 10 percent of the company’s stock.

During the time, Bush noted, athenahealth has transitioned to an agile development culture – putting in place methodology designed to foster a more fluid approach to product development and innovation.

Bush said athenahealth has also made headway with its efforts to free providers to focus on what matters most.

“Instead of annual assessments, tactical plans are reviewed in 1-2 week increments, allowing us to work faster, course-correct quickly, and show regular, demonstrable progress,” he explained. “Our clients reap the benefits of this approach as we continue to open up our network, build connectivity, and work toward a platform experience that has never existed before in healthcare.”

In addition to the technologies, athenahealth will be showing at its booth, Bush is scheduled to participate alongside Jefferson Health CEO Stephen Klasko, MD in a session titled “Physician Engagement as a Catalyst for Clinical and Financial Improvement,” set for Thursday, March 8, at 4 p.m. in the Venetian Palazzo G.

Athenahealth is in Booth 119.

HIMSS18 Preview

An inside look at the innovation, education, technology, networking and key events at the HIMSS18 global conference in Las Vegas.

As the time draws near for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to sign its EHR contract with Cerner, Congressional members are growing increasingly concerned over not only the $10 billion price tag, but that the agency will need to keep the legacy system in place, perhaps indefinitely.

“While the EHR modernization effort is necessary, it is very expensive,” House VA Committee Chairman Phil Roe, MD, R-Tennessee, said during the Thursday hearing on the VA’s 2019 budget requests.

“The contract with Cerner alone has a price tag of about $10 billion and that doesn’t even include the costs of updating infrastructure to accommodate the new EHR, implementation support or sustaining VistA up until the day it can be turned off,” he continued.

In fact, Roe is concerned that the VA’s legacy EHR may never be completely gone.

President Donald Trump released his proposed FY19 budget this week, which earmarked $1.2 billion to get the project with Cerner off the ground. VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD, put the potential Cerner contract on hold in January, pending an independent review of Cerner’s interoperability capabilities.

While Roe applauded Shulkin’s move to ensure interoperability, he’s still not certain the project can be successful.

“It’s unthinkable that VA could potentially spend billions of dollars on a project that doesn’t substantially increase the department’s ability to share information with the Department of Defense or community providers,” Roe said. “But that’s exactly what could happen if VA fails to proceed in a careful deliberate manner.”

In response, Shulkin stressed that the agency is taking the modernization very seriously.

“We have to make sure that we can be interoperable with dozens of different health systems out there,” said Shulkin. “And that’s a challenge that frankly the American healthcare system hasn’t figured out yet... We think VA can help lead this for the whole country by making this interoperable.”

Shulkin recognized the agency’s track record of failed IT projects – the Government Accountability Office recently reported that the VA likely wasted at least $1.1 billion on multiple EHR modernization attempts – and understands that this EHR replacement must work.

Given the size and scope of the project – there are more than 130 versions of VistA operating right now – Shulkin said the legacy system will need to be maintained over a 10-year implementation period.

To account for that, Shulkin is requesting Congress provide the VA a separate account to fund the project. The account would provide the VA with the necessary funds for maintaining VistA and implementing the Cerner EHR, and would provide transparency to where those funds are going.

The VA is expected to sign the Cerner contract in the next few weeks, after the vendor reportedly passed its independent assessment.